


I'll Come Back To You

by scornkernnels



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: ? - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Not Canon Compliant, also inspired by When Marnie Was There, ghost - Freeform, i'm hesitant to use that tag, moon spirit au, things are weird at first just stick it out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scornkernnels/pseuds/scornkernnels
Summary: Lin is haunted by visions of an unknown woman in her sleep.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II, Lin Beifong/Tenzin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	I'll Come Back To You

If she closes her eyes, she can remember it.

She can almost feel it, the hot summer heat raining down on her, soaking her body. Sweat crawls down her arms like a line of ants and there’s a mosquito on her arm, tickling her hairs with its movement. 

She hears the bugs in the background crying out in pain, their cries ebbing and flowing as they begged for mercy. The rich blue sky, almost a sickening shade of cornflower. How slow the sluggish clouds crossed her field of vision, like linen on a broken clothesline. The tree behind her, swaying in the gentle breeze that would come by occasionally. She always found comfort in the trees. If she stood up, her arms spread out, wind flapping at her shirt in a manner similar to what moved the branches, she would go on top of toes and her body would become a trunk. 

She twitches her feet and the sand rustles and shifts, moving through her toes. She breathes in and there’s misty spray in her nose, leaving a salty aftertaste that makes her spit out her mouth. 

She treads into the water, dipping her feet in slowly, getting used to the sensation. Her mom isn’t around, although they haven’t spoken in years. Actually, no one is. The whole island feels strangely deserted. Even the trees feel lonelier than usual, hunched over with pine needles drooping in the wake of a summer’s drought.

She licks at her lips, chapped and cracked. She presses them together and they’re swollen. When was the last time she drank? She can’t remember. She descends further into the water. 

It laps at her legs softly like little hands latching onto a sleeve. She moves a leg and it pulls her in the other direction, almost guiding her, as if to say,

“I am here. In this direction, I am here.”

Who is she to disagree.

Actually, she would disagree. Normally. The water and her have never gotten along. There are memories plastered in the back of her head, of her being rolled tightly in a wave before being spun and washed up on the shore like a sole piece of flotsam. Sputtering, holding back her gag reflex she would stand up, unsure of which direction was up or down before falling slightly and raising her head towards her mother in almost a defiant glare she knew the woman wouldn’t see.

“I think you’ve had enough for today,” The woman’s amused voice would call out, clear and as cold as ice, hitting her and she would lose her balance again. 

She wouldn’t respond, turning on her heel and marching back toward the water. Swimming against the tide, her strength and force of will propelling her further out into the ocean. Or maybe it was anger that drove her. Looking back, it was probably anger.

But she’s older now, she thinks, looking at her stretched palms defined by the midday sun. The salt has dried them out and she sticks them back in the water, knowing it will do little to ease the pain. Are all summers this agonizing?

The bed seems to continue forever before she settles down onto a rock, resting her head back for a second, her eyes closed.

When she opens them up again, a pair of aqua blue- no, maybe it’s crystalline? Indigo? Sapphire? She can’t tell, there’s too much reflected light all around her. Too much blue. Everything blends together in a mush in front of her eyes.

There’s silver, too, silver strands in the water and her hands jump in front, begging to reach out to the strands and feel them for herself, but she’s too afraid, what if she reaches out and the illusion is gone. The silver and blue and there’s brown now, appearing, like someone is adding dye to the water and it’s just becoming diluted and spreading out. She holds her breath and inches slowly away, afraid it’s some kind of horrible sea monster and that’s why the island is deserted.

The air is too quiet, too still, and her heart stops, her veins run cold as she notices the water has gotten darker, less bright. Slowly, carefully, she averts her gaze to the sky, which bears signs of a thunderstorm: heavy, dripping, gray clouds moving quickly like a stampede, led by one cloud which bears a striking resemblance to a half moon. 

She doesn’t think she likes this place anymore. The water feels cold against her body and she shivers, her hairs sticking up like pin pricks on top of volcanos. The colors are still there, they look like a woman now. A very, very beautiful woman, one with sad blue eyes, big eyes which curve down. 

“I’m sorry,” she finds herself saying, even though she knows this isn’t real.

“I’m sorry,” she yells this time, the current picking and a wave crashing to the side of her. She holds her hands together and hopes that nothing will happen.

“I don’t know you. I can’t help. The water is-” She holds her breath as a wave crashes overhead. “The water is too rough.”

The woman just stares, her perfectly ovular face paralyzed.

She tries to move her feet, but they’re cemented into the sand, which has created small columns which wrap around her legs.

Another wave crashes overhead and the sky is black now. She tries to dive under more waves but it feels like the water level is rising and she’s not rising with it.

The last thing she sees are those eyes, beautifully blue, swaying with the current, calling out to her.  
\---  
“Lin?”

“I- I-” She struggles for breath, hunched over, grabbing at the sheets, pulling them up with her fists.

“Lin? What is it?”

She doesn’t respond at first, waiting for the dark world around her to focus, waiting for the pain and panic to subside.

There are hands making their way across her back, rubbing up and down in a calming repetitive motion, hitting all the places that her chi are located and slowly but surely she slumps back down, her body small again as her muscles untense and she leans down into the bed, her breathing slowed.

“Are you… are you okay?” Tenzin’s nervous eyes meet her own, eyebrows curved upward in concern.

She sends him a small smile, leaning into his embrace and smelling his familiar cool scent of rain and foggy mornings. 

“I’m… I’m okay. Just a bad dream.”

“Tough day at work?” He mumbles sleepily, placing his hand on her head as she places her head to his chest. His eyes are already closed again and his head is facing up, his neck moving slightly as he tries to find the particular notch in his pillow which is shaped to his head indent.

She can’t even remember her day at work.

“Yeah, it was a tough day.”

“Go back to sleep and you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Okay,” she whispers, her voice barely audible, a wisp in the night air, a leaf in the wind. 

Outside, a half moon shines above, its rays shining as a beacon into their room and illuminating the outside environment of the island, highlighting the tops of waves in the dark black harbor. Lin breathes deeply, her consciousness fading as she listens to the outside landscape, her dream already fading.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to let me know what you think, I'm not too good at this so I hope it wasn't too redundant! I have some updates planned but this shouldn't be too much of a big fic, haha


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